Meet the 'heroic' joiner who saved girl's life after lolly got stuck in her throat

A "heroic" joiner saved a little girl's life after a lolly became stuck in her throat. Gracie-Rae was left “gasping and going blue” in the hallway of her home, with mum Sian Berridge panicking for help.

Sian, from Sileby near Loughborough, discovered three-year-old Gracie-Rae in trouble after finding the stick with no lolly attached to it. She believed it "must have come off" in her daughter's mouth and immediately panicked. The mum then rushed outside her house with Gracie-Rae in her arms and called for assistance, crying: “help me, help me, help me”

Luckily for her and Gracie-Rae, Paul Flanagan, a joiner Charnwood Borough Council (CBC), leapt into action and managed to dislodge the lolly by turning Gracie-Rae on her front and “patting her back”. Ms Berridge said she “couldn’t stop crying” after the lucky escape.

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She said: “My two older kids were upstairs and I went into the kitchen to get a charger. When I came out I noticed Gracie in the hallway, gasping and going blue, and then I saw the stick with no lolly on it.

“I just freaked out. You know what to do but when it actually happens, you just panic. So I scooped her up and took her outside, shouting ‘help me, help me, help me’."

Paul, who is known to everyone as Bob, was handily placed to the events on Wednesday, October 2 and his quick thinking saved Gracie-Rae. Sian said: "The lolly didn’t come up but he definitely dislodged it to the point that it went down. Then he just held her for the longest time, making sure she was ok. He was brilliant."

Hospital checks confirmed Gracie-Rae, who is on the austism spectrum, was all good. Mum Sian was overcome with emotion. She said: "Gracie is on the spectrum for autism and says very few words but she actually said, ‘help me’, which brought tears to my eyes as I’ve never heard her say that before.

“Afterwards, I was very tearful, couldn’t stop crying, relieved but also in shock. He’s a hero. He saved my little girl’s life and I will forever be thankful to him.”

To make things even luckier, Bob had only recently become a full-time council employee after working for CBC via an agency for five years. He was just as emotional, saying: “It was only my second week on the job and I was just packing up at the end of the day, when I saw Sian and Gracie-Rae. It all just happened so quickly that I didn’t really have time to think about it. I just did what I could.

“But after I got home and everything had quietened down, it suddenly hit me and I did get a bit emotional. I am just glad everything worked out and Gracie-Rae was ok.”

Mr Flanagan went back to see Sian and Gracie-Rae the following day to see how the youngster was faring. A grateful Sian, meanwhile, later contacted the council as she wanted to make sure his efforts were recognised.

Mr Flanagan said: “I’m a bit humbled, to be honest, and quite proud, if that’s the right word.”

Rob Mitchell, chief executive of CBC, said: “On behalf of Charnwood Borough Council, I’d like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Bob for his quick-thinking and action. We are really pleased Gracie-Rae is doing ok and that Bob was able to help. We are incredibly proud of him and grateful for his brave response in such a critical moment.”

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